William Street project looks at the future

The William Street widening project has been on Cape Girardeau's to-do list since the mid-1990s, but the dismembering last week of those grand maple trees along the edge of Indian Park reminded residents that the project is, indeed, moving ahead.

The widening project -- from Sprigg Street to Main Street -- began years ago with the promise of riverboat gaming and increased downtown traffic. When it was clear there wasn't going to be a casino or the steady blip-blip-blip of slot machines, many felt the street project should go away. A wider corridor between Sprigg and Main seemed much less pressing.

But now city officials are asking taxpayers to think again about future growth. Instead of tying the project to riverfront development, they want residents to think about a new Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge and the increased traffic it will bring to the downtown area.

To recap, the project will widen William Street to 40 feet from 32 feet from Sprigg to Main and add a turn lane at the Sprigg intersection. Currently, the two sides of the intersection don't line up, confusing more than a few drivers new to the area.

The project will cost $500,000 and will be funded entirely with Transportation Trust Fund money, which comes from the half-cent sales tax Cape Girardeau shoppers pay for road construction and street improvements.

In fact, the project was on the list of projects to be funded during the first round of Transportation Trust Fund collections, which began in 1995. Voters renewed the tax in 2000.

City manager Michael Miller said the council decided to keep the project on the list after the tax renewal.

"The council was very careful in not taking something off unless there was a very good reason," he said.

In this case, that good reason is the bridge, which is scheduled to open in the fall of 2003. The William Street widening will tie in well with the proposed Fountain Street extension project, which will provide a roomier north-south corridor between Highway 74, which leads to the bridge, and William Street and the rest of downtown.

The council's vision, which they'd like the rest of the community to share, is of a bustling, easily accessible downtown benefiting from increased traffic due to a vastly improved bridge to Illinois.

But what about those trees?

"Generally speaking, when we have a project, we have a tree board that reviews whether there is any way of saving them or whether they should be saved," Miller said. "They often find the trees are crowded next to the street."

It's sad to see the old giants fall, but their future was grim anyway, being that close to William. And, with Cape Girardeau's Tree City USA recognition from the National Arbor Day Foundation, Miller points out, one can be assured that city officials will do all they can to protect trees and plant new ones where possible.

Miller makes one last point about the project:

"We don't do these things in secret," he said. The project was "on the agenda a number of times before." Excellent point. The time to speak is before the buzz of chain saws.